Stuck in a rut
So I’m not the best cook in the world and Rob simply doesn’t cook at all. Add into this mix the fact that the kids eat their dinner at their childminders on 4 nights each week and you can easily see why we ended up eating the same boring meals on rotation each night of the week. Monday had become spag bol night, Tuesday curry night, so on and so forth (not forgetting Friday night takeaway night 🙂 ). Sometimes, we’d mix things up a bit and buy the stuff to make fajitas but that was about the limit of my culinary expertise. Not very exciting. At all.
Hello, Hello Fresh 🙂
When my friend gave me a voucher for Hello Fresh, I was quite sceptical. I thought I’d tried this type of deal before, having ordered a different type of food box thingy only to be disappointed when all I received was the herbs and spices and a list of ingredients that I needed to go out and buy (I hadn’t read that offer properly in all fairness). My friend explained that Hello Fresh was different. That I would receive ALL of the ingredients that I needed, to make the recipes that were listed.
The Hello Fresh offer code that I was given entitled me to 50% off and free delivery. I decided to check out their website.
Hello Fresh do 3 different types of boxes:
- A classic box – for 2 to 4 adults
- A veggie box – for 2 to 4 adults
- A family box – for 2 adults and 2 children.
As I’ve mentioned previously, our 2 kids eat at their childminders for 4 days per week, so the family box would be no good for us, nor would the veggie box as we love our meat…….. but (using my 50% off voucher code) for £24.49 I could get the Hello Fresh Classic Box. This box would contain five Hello Fresh recipes, including all ingredients to make 2 meals, for 5 nights. That’s less than £2.50 per meal!
We decided to give it a try for 1 week and see how we got on!
The first box arrived without issue during the allocated Sunday timeslot. The way that the ingredients are packaged up is great. All meat/refrigerator items are packaged in special insulation with ice packs to keep them cool. The rest of the fresh ingredients are packaged into colour coded paper bags which correspond to their own bright and colourful recipe card.
Our first recipes all sounded really good:
- Sweet & Sour Pork (with cracked bulgur wheat)
- Mexican Style Cottage Pie (with sweet potato and mozzarella)
- Crispy Skin Chicken (with Buttery Veggies and Homemade Basil Oil)
- Mexican Beanie Tostada (with guacamole and cheese)
- Chermoula and yoghurt marinated chicken (with zesty courgette pilaf)
Time to get cooking!
We decided to make the sweet & sour pork dish straight away. At the top of each recipe card there’s a list of other items that you will need as your cooking, so I was able to fully prepare before starting to cook. There’s also a list of ingredients which clearly show any other ingredients that you might need, but aren’t included in the box (water, olive oil, salt & pepper).
I set out all of my ingredients and followed the VERY clear and simple instructions. As your working through the step by step method any ingredients that you need are highlighted in bold writing, and the instructions are written in really simple language. Before I knew it the dish was complete! I couldn’t believe how easy it was! Don’t laugh….. but I’d never ever cooked bulgur wheat before but the whole dish turned out perfect and was absolutely delicious :)! The portion sizes are surprisingly large too and very filling!
Here’s a few pics of the other delicious meals we’ve created!:
Verdict – Is Hello Fresh worth a go?
Definitely 100% YES!
If (like us) youre stuck in a rut having the same meals every night, and would like to try something new. Or maybe if you’re a novice cook and want easy to follow, simple recipes to make great meals from scratch – then give it a shot!
We’ve been receiving Hello Fresh boxes now for 6 weeks and have yet to have a bad meal. I’m really enjoying using fresh ingredients and creating delicious meals using perfectly pre-portioned herbs and spices. My confidence in my cooking ability has grown massively and I really look forward to making dinner when I get home now, knowing that we will have a different (always tasty) fresh meal on the table in as little as 25 minutes.
The fact that we can cancel our membership (or simply skip a weeks deliver) up to 4 days before its due is very reassuring. We have dropped down to receiving only 3 recipes per week now, simply because it fits in better with our lifestyle. This is totally flexible though and we could change this each week if we wanted too.
If you would like to sign up to Hello Fresh with a voucher code (giving you £20 off), then you can follow my refer a friend discount link:
https://www.hellofresh.co.uk?c=KERLOWE.
This will also credit my account with £20 off my next box (marvellous 🙂 ). Once you’ve placed an order with Hello Fresh you’ll be given your own refer a friend code and can start earning further discounts yourself 🙂 )! Do check for other promos first though, as depending which box you choose, you may be better off with a different offer.
I wish we had tried Hello Fresh sooner, and my husband agrees.
Big thumbs up from us!
The Lowe Family Travels 